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 Post subject: distressing hardwood flooring
PostPosted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 3:26 pm 
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Joined: Wed Mar 16, 2005 3:14 pm
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I'm getting ready to have a house built. Because I have a 100 pound dog, I want the handscraped flooring. I guess PA must be behind the times because my builder who builds $500,000+ homes wasn't familiar with handscraped floors. I went to some local dealers to look at their samples and I wasn't happy with #1 the price and #2 the look of the flooring. It looked very unnatural and too smooth. I lived in Texas where handscraped floors are very popular and it was very distressed looking. I'm pretty sure they laid unfinished hardwood and distressed it right there in the house. What do you think of my builder just laying some utility grade oak and distressing it on the site? If he is willing to do this, what do I tell him on how this is done? Any of you builders out there, what do you think?


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 17, 2005 12:37 pm 
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Joined: Fri Feb 11, 2005 11:51 pm
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I had a similar question a few weeks ago and posted in the wrong place (under General) but I recieved exactly what I was looking for. I've pasted the replies here that I think will help.

I'm mostly done installing and now spend my evening scraping with a spoke shave. Most of what you probably saw in Texas is done by scraping sideways against the grain with a carbide tipped paint scraper. It digs out the soft portion of the grain and leaves the hard. Yes, it is done onsite, after installation. I like the look William describes much better but it's a bit more labor intensive.

Good luck.

Here are the posts. . . .

Joined: 12 Feb 2005
Posts: 4

Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2005 2:08 am Post subject: Anyone know tool used for "hand scraped" floor loo

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I'm installing unfinished 5" white oak T&G and want to create the handscraped look (we have five kids and a dog so might as well do it on purpose). I'm going to be doing about 800 sq ft and would like to know the easiest way to scrape the floor. What tool, what are the steps, techniques, tricks??

Thanks for your help.

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Joined: 24 Nov 2004
Posts: 63
Location: Coeur 'd Alene, Idaho
Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2005 2:24 am Post subject:

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Scrub Plane and Spoke Shave (curved blade) We do it while it acclimates on saw horses. Use block plane to bevel edges. Lei Nielson Makes the ideal scrub plane. Seen 'em from $140.00 - $170.00. Spoke shave is cheaper 'bout $30.00 and will get you by for one job. Don't forget to hit any seen ends you've sawn with the block plane before you nail down. I like to stain it too just to highlight the patina. You should have planks that closelyu resemble Homerwood's Pre scraped.
Hope that helps ... Don't forget to oil your elbows with some extra elbow grease

Realy nuthin to it
e-mail me if you need pointers
_________________
William
Heritage Hardwood Floors
Coeur 'd Alene, ID


In order to achieve what the competition cannot grasp, we must complete what they will not attempt. Nobody ever said it would be easy, but it's darn sure worth it.

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KDFisher
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Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Posts: 80
Location: Salt Spring Island
Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 3:03 am Post subject:

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I believe Festool have a planer with a special drum/blade that is supposed to give that hand scraped look with less work. I don't know how well it works though.

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jclivzinme

Joined: 24 Nov 2004
Posts: 63
Location: Coeur 'd Alene, Idaho
Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 1:43 am Post subject:

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O.K. Here goes...
There are several teqniques from simple "hand scraping" (what I'll talk about here) to "hand distressing" or "aging" which can be WAY more involed all the way down to duplicating worm holes and worn areas etc. But for now let's just do a hand scraped floor.

Tool List:
*Saw Horses
*Clamps to hold planks to horses, quick clamps work well.
*Small Block Plane for beveling edges
*Convex (curved) Spoke Shave (works like a draw knife)
*Straight Spokeshave (optional)
*Regular flooring scraper with blade sharpend to a curve.
*Scrub Plane (you'll do some homework finding one, Lie Nielson is best...trust me. Could only find them on-line and don't waste your time or money on the $70.00 ones made of wood. Spend $140-$170 +s&h for Lie Nielson. BUT a spoke shave will get you by for one job and the results are great. If you're doing white oak or hickory buy a few 'cause yes you can break one hitting a knot.
*Installation Equipment (of course)
*Buffer with 3/4" white pad instead of 1/4" driver pad.
120 and 150 grit screens (depend on species and your desired effect)
and the rest is the usual stuff ... vaccuums, stain gear (if desired), and finish application gear

NOTE: best to brush on Poly by hand with 12" brushes ... for pointers on this method drop me an e-mail. Water borne can be kinda tricky 'cause the scraped wood texture can cause bubbles if you're not extra careful.

EXPERIMENT with your hand tools. By now you've seen pics and samples of stuff you like so... give it a go. Carve some wood. Notice how it scrapes in one direction compared to the other. Don't get too worried, the first 50 ft. are the hardest. IT WILL TAKE TIME TO FIGURE IT OUT. Setting the blade depth on these tools is something you're just gonna have to play with. It is your floor so decide if you want unique patterns or want to follow grain or heavy or subtle texture it's all up to you. I've found that less is more on blade depth. Shaving wood is better that fighting and gouging.

Assuming you've purchased wood and it has been delivered to the site and the site is propper for acclimation....

1) Find your favorite style of STURDY sawhorsees and set them up in the best work area available on your site. I screw the legs to the floor for added strength. You want to be in an area where you can have your 'before' pile on one side and your 'after' pile on the other. And be able to vaccuum shavings up frequently.(Note: if you smoke, dont flick yer ashes in the flamable stuff piling up around your feet!)

2) I like to bevel the edges first while thier in a stack on the floor before i kick a row (3-5 boards) onto the horses. (NOTE: Stack short ones that don't reach both horses on long ones that do and clamp em both to the horse ... one end clamped should be enough) Again.. EXPERIMENT ... do you want a worn edge look, straight bevel, large, small, un-even? ... all up to you. Just don't run a sliver up in your hand And be careful on end grain you can splinter the edge if you go too aggressive on your blade depth. One person can do this phase while others scrape, even rotate people to different phases as you go. If you're gonna use two part epoxy to fill nots, now is a good time to put duct tape on the back of your planks (if you don't have a clue what I'm talking about ... e-mail me.

3) (Works best with a person on each end) Scrape with scrub plane (unless all you're using is a spoke shave) Hopefully you've done some experimenting by now and your ready to rock-on. Scrub plane first for more subtle, plank length troughs then spoke shave next for choppier, busier, more follow the grain look. Dont worry about little tags or chatters from blade skipping. Tags will be buffed off after install and chatters tend to add to the look. Fine tuning your look can be done with the regular floor scraper that you used your bench grinder on to shape the blade with then fine sharpened with your file.

4) CONGRATULATIONS! The hard part is over. Now fully finish acclimating and install. NOTE: If you like direction changes and doorway headers etc. remember to block plane the ends that have been sawn and can be visible in your floor so all your edges are beveled.

5) Whether stained or natural now is the time to even out the look by screening. This is no different than normal sanded floor screening before stain or finish except I now TRY to over screen and even cause a little "dish-out" here and there. I'll screen whole job against grain and again with grain. Most of the time 120 is good. Sometimes I'll go over once more with the grain with 150 if I'm concerned about scratces with some species and stains. I've found that using the thicker pad, made for pollishing, as a driver pad will help the screen follow the contour of your handscraping. If you can find 'em, steel wool pads work well too (BUT NOT IF YOU INTEND TO USE WATER BORNE FINISH!)
If you are resin filling your knots,before you screen, have them poured, dried and scraped down to match the surface.(orbital palm sander and tiger disc help too)

6)Stain/Finish -Nothing special on these steps, but I do recommend the brush on technique with finish for a more thorough application. Rag on and wipe of still works great for stain. Stain is a great way to show off the patina look those chattermarks gave you.
Screening between coats with purple pad and either 180 or 220 strips still works and recommended. PERSONAL NOTE ... I love tung oil finish on these floors. Recommend Waterlox.

Some awesome pics at www.wideplankflooring.com and ALL of those floors are done in tung oil and I have it from an insider that the brand they repackage and sell IS Waterlox. Notice on the site (under the hand distress link) the different variety of edges. The realy un-even "worn" looking edges can be gradually shaped with a flat spokeshave. Most of these pics are a more subtle, scrub plane only texture.

All of this info is quite honestly what you need to know to reproduce the pictures on that site and most pre-scraped floors available.

There are other techniques such as wire brushing, "summer" grain scraping, and even the notorious "beat the hell out of it with some chains" style. One fella even asked if I could wear golf shoes while I worked ... The most in depth process involes disressing, installing, staining ebony then scraping AGAIN after install to leave black down in the grain and joints etc. then finishing with tung oil or even coffee brown wax ... TONS of knuckle bustin going on those ones.

So hopefully All this helps ... AND HOPEFULLY none of my competitors are reading ...

HAVE FUN

P.S. Ken, I'll have to get you some pics ...
_________________
William
Heritage Hardwood Floors
Coeur 'd Alene, ID


In order to achieve what the competition cannot grasp, we must complete what they will not attempt. Nobody ever said it would be easy, but it's darn sure worth it.

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d.chatt



Joined: 12 Feb 2005
Posts: 4

Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 10:28 pm Post subject:

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William, this is great information -- thank you.

One more question. I have already knocked the edgest down a bit (with the tip-top of a 1/2" router bit) because I like the look of each board being beveled. I was planning on installing and then scraping while on the floor. This puts me on my hands and knees but would avoid another week of not having it down and not having to work on the sawhorses. I'm told I have to wait two weeks after install to finish.

Would it be a lot harder to scrape after install?

Thanks!

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jclivzinme



Joined: 24 Nov 2004
Posts: 63
Location: Coeur 'd Alene, Idaho
Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 12:35 am Post subject:

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A little more uncomfortble scraping after install but definitely do-able. At least they won't move around while you're trying to pull or push your plane/spokeshave. As a full time floor guy ... anytime I can do a sufficient amount of work standing up ... I'm all for it.

As far as waiting ... Not as critical on a scraped floor. If you were sanding I'd say let the wood finish moving a bit before sanding and finishing. You will not notice overwood or small joint gaps on a scraped floor as much ... and some think it even adds to 'the look'.

The reason for the wait: The wood tends to move from stress either created or relieved from "banging" it to the floor, If you sand immediately after install and get the floor totally flat while it's still doing it's thing, you'll find high edges (overwood) not long after your first coat. So, the prescription ... let her settle down then knock 'er flat. Since a scraped floor isn't exactly "flat" ... probably no worries.

Hope that helps ...
_________________
William
Heritage Hardwood Floors
Coeur 'd Alene, ID


In order to achieve what the competition cannot grasp, we must complete what they will not attempt. Nobody ever said it would be easy, but it's darn sure worth it.

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SteveinTx



Joined: 15 Feb 2005
Posts: 2

Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2005 11:19 am Post subject:

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Excellent, detailed information, thank you! I wont be ready to start the floor for a couple months, so I'll probably have more questions for you then. For now, I'll start practicing on some old boards I have in the garage.

Would there be any problems (warping, etc) if I were to start scraping the floor for the new house, at the old house, so long as I properly acclimated the floor in the new house once we have possesion (it is not new construction). What if I were to store the scraped wood in my current garage?

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